There are two scenes, where I simply can't remember from which episode they are from. Perhaps somebody can help me:

1. They talk about the 'Club 27' (all the musicians who died when they were 27) and Stephen gives some kind of explanation why creative people are actually more likely to die in their mid/late-20s than 'ordinary' people. I think that might have been one of the Halloween-specials.

2. Stephen talks about ballet (or dancing in general?) and says something like 'I don't want to imply that all dancers are gay, even though of course they are.' and then somebody (Jimmie Carr?) says 'I find this kind of steretyping rather offensive.'

Welcome, my snowpeople, to this week's Episode Discussion Thread! We're back after a bit of a clip-show drought and ready to dive into the dessert of this series.

My random thoughts:

- This was a fun one, full of good facts and fun asides. I'm kind of intrigued by that ice cream, though.

- Holy cow, amazing for Ross to pick up that Sean so does perfectly resemble the Riddler! Should the Beeb ever produce a series about DC superheroes, I know who will be first on the casting manager's list.

- Brian is certainly a bombastic, larger-than-life individual, isn't he? He must be a lovely person to know, but if I ever see that great hairy fellow coming toward me bellowing about shagging, I'm going to run.

- Alan captures the Nobody Knows prize again, he's been cleaning up this series, and most appropriately, I think.

- We jump back to the undiscussed Episode 5 because apparently on the other side of the pond, Jeremy Clarkson has tossed away another of those delightful bon mots and the Beeb has had to shelve this week's episode for a bit. I've decided to post it when it runs properly (hopefully it will!)

- This was quite a fun one, and a good panel, featuring the debut of Sarah Millican. Poor Sarah I think seemed a little overwhelmed by the experience, but held her own, even tricking Stephen into downing an ant that proved disastrous for him through the remainder of the taping. I understand her consternation, the dry snarkism of Jimmy Carr and the outright lunacy of Johnny Vegas makes a powerful combination.

- Johnny, despite his general wackiness, seems particularly lucid and understandable this episode! Stephen often appeared completely at a loss to understand his words or his meanings in his first tapings, even though it delighted the other panelists (but gave poor Alan a persistent headache.)

- What in the world was Jimmy wearing? It looks like an uninformed person's idea of casual Eighties clothing.

- Johnny startled all and sundry by his scorpion-induced somersault. I guess he did get powers after all. Now I want to hear the really bad musical about insect eating, too! A couple of Johnny's sung lines from this episode keep arising in my brain. "Half the poison, half the fun!" and "Now I'm an insect syncophant!"

- Alan, shame on you! And it WAS her first taping after all, no personal bodily insertion jokes with anyone until at least the second!

- They never answered it, but now I wonder what moths DID do before humans and artificial light!

Hello, my Fryheads and Alaniacs, I've thought that since we have a repeat this week, that I'd fill the Weekly Episode Review gap with one of this series' episodes we didn't have a review for, namely, Episode 5 "Invertebrates". Yes, we're running backwards! It saw the debut of Sarah Millican and the return of Johnny Vegas, as well as Stephen's disastrous encounter with a chocolate ant, and for those who didn't see it or who would like to refresh themselves, it is here, but you didn't hear it from me.

- This was a great episode. The acerbic, witty Jack Dee, the intelligent and sparkly Chris Addison and my personal favorite, the silent but deadly Rich Hall. Everything was so smooth and funny.

- I've only seen the regular episode due to illness but I will have to look at the XL soon. Rich's card interpretations are hilarious, but he should have been rightly ashamed of his Oprah Winfrey quip!

- Why was everyone dressed so nicely this week?

- Is it possible to not fall in love with Chris Addison? Just wondering.

So sorry for the delay folks, I've been quite ill the last few days. I should have the weekly Episode Discussion Thread up tomorrow evening (or in about 24 hours for the non-Yanks). Take care, my lovely blue whales!

- My, wasn't this the episode of the Rare Panelist! Ronni has probably been on the show most, but only a handful of times, but isn't this really the first time we've seen Dave Gorman on the show since Series A, back at the dawn of this millennium?

- This was a fine satisfactory episode, thankfully with that wonderful balance of funny people who may or may not happen to know a lot, rather than knowledgeable people who may or may not be funny. I did enjoy Dave Gorman's presence quite a bit, and hope he becomes more regular. Lee Mack to me always seems like a bit of a prat, and Ronni seems to agree. I don't mind his presence, though, and it was good to have Ronni (and her accents) again.

- I'm surprised this wasn't a Children in Need special. Are we going to get one this series?

It's not required we get 12,407 comments this week, but wouldn't it be interesting?

My random thoughts:

- Now this feels like a QI episode. The balance of the universe has been restored, and we have four intelligent comedians and our beloved schoolmaster Fry again, bantering smoothly and hilariously away. Now, I have nothing against the expert panelists and greatly enjoyed their presence in many respects, but it just seemed to slow down the pace and didn't feel like the show I'd come to love over the years.

- Al Murray is a welcome new panelist, funny, engaging and enjoyable, and I hope he comes back again. The whole panel was just top-notch, especially since Sandi and the marvelous Dara play off each other so well.

- Repeats: Alan's buzzer, and notably the connection between Ben-Hur and Billy the Kid. I doubt this was included as a question, it just seems like something Stephen decided to bring up. Remarkable that Alan didn't remember but "seemed to think he should", especially since way back in Series B when it was featured on the show, Alan found it amusing that a 19th-century US governor would up and decide to write a book about Ancient Rome, leading to one of Stephen's notable angry rants: "What should he have written!? 'You're writing about something not particularly close to you! You wanker!'", withering poor Alan to some extent. Interestingly, I've realized Alan doesn't prod Stephen and act up nearly as much as he used to, and Stephen almost never goes off on a panelist these days. Is everyone mellowing in their old age?

- "That's fabulous trivia, well done you, you should get an extra point for that!" Hilarious comment...and now leads me to think should Stephen ever be prevented from discharging his duties as QImaster...Sandi might be an excellent substitute.

- Dara seems to be the Corrections column of this show, as now he gets points added back for his correct assertion last series that fish do not have tongues. Interestingly, he clearly remembers his points being docked for his (outdated) grasp on the triple point of water, and the whole sequence where he warns Sandi of future point adjustments is wonderful.

- And remember, in case of nuclear war, don't forget to reverse the charges!